Thomas Doherty Says Tell Me Lies Cast Were ‘Very Relaxed’ About Him Joining (Exclusive)

Thomas Doherty was quite nervous when he arrived on the set of Tell me lies season 2.

The 29-year-old Scottish actor joined the Hulu series’ second season as Leo, a new love interest for lead character Lucy (Grace Van Patten), further throwing a spanner in the works of the never-ending, toxic love story between Lucy and Stephen (Jackson White).

Doherty tells PEOPLE that it was “such an amazing experience” to come on board, but he admitted to having some qualms, since Van Patten and White are not only romantically involved onscreen, but also dating in real life.

“Obviously Jackson and Grace are in a relationship in real life, so I thought, ‘Oh,’ but no, (he) was absolutely professional and just like me, and yeah, it was so relaxed,” said the Gossip girl says one former student, though he admits, “People always say, they always say, ‘It’s your job, you’re an actor.’ I say, ‘Yeah, I know, but still, f—ing hell.’”

Doherty noted that the cast and crew were “amazing.”

“Just the whole environment — the best craic I’ve ever had in my life. And working in Atlanta was really, really special. So yeah, it was just an amazing experience.”

Doherty says he was drawn to the show — and more specifically to the role of Leo — because he “really saw a lot of my younger self in Leo.”

“I mean, I’m 29 now, Leo isn’t quite there yet. But I don’t know, I think that young adult… You leave home and you go to college for the first time and you’re on your own and you’re trying to figure out who you are as a person and create this sense of self, but you’re thrown into an environment with hundreds and thousands of other people who are doing the same thing,” Doherty continues.

It was another big draw for the 27-year-old Van Patten to work together High reliability alum.

The pair arranged to meet for coffee the day before their chemistry lecture. Doherty recalls, “For some reason I thought I was going to meet Lucy.”

In reality, the actress “couldn’t be more different” from her character. “That’s how good she is at acting.”

Doherty added: “If I had to work with Grace for the rest of my career, I would be a lucky man. She’s just an incredible person, an incredible actor, so funny, so smart. And yeah, just a wonderful, wonderful person.”

Their chemistry “just kind of came naturally,” he says, and showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer agreed. In July, she told PEOPLE that Doherty was the only actor they considered for the role because “he and Grace just had so much chemistry from the beginning.”

“He just made her laugh so hard during their audition scenes. And I think we haven’t seen Lucy laugh very often with a man, and we really wanted to bring out that side of her, because we forget that this character is only 19,” Oppenheimer said.

As for what White (28) thought about Doherty becoming a rival for his character, the actor tells PEOPLE: “I just tried to get through the awkwardness.”

“I was like, ‘Hey man. That’s just crazy. Where are you from? What’s going on?’ I just tried to break it up if I could,” White says. “He’s a super, super nice guy. He’s a wild guy. It was cool. I don’t know, it’s always fun to have some new talent around.”

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The first two episodes of Tell me lies Season 2 is now streaming on Hulu. New episodes premiere on Wednesdays.